Review of Paper Moon (2013) by Edith N — 13 Mar 2013

With Great Whacks of Daddy Issues.

My absolute favourite Ryan O'Neal story is one that I'm quite sure Tatum wishes people would stop telling. However, I think it says everything that needs to be said about their relationship--and Ryan O'Neal as a person. You see, this isn't just the story about how he told her, probably right around the time this movie was made, that she shouldn't ask him to choose between her and Farrah Fawcett, because he wasn't sleeping with Tatum. No, this was at Farrah Fawcett's funeral, where he needed a ride (Ryan O'Neal doesn't have his own car?), so Tatum gave him one--and he didn't recognize her, so he started hitting on her. He laughs about this story; I can only assume that Tatum has told it to her therapist several times. I also know that he was pretty mad when she won the Oscar and he wasn't even nominated for this. Though he is one of the people who lost to George C. Scott, the year George C. Scott refused the award, so there's that.

Tatum is Addie Loggins and Ryan is Moses Pray. Her mother has just died, and she believes that Moze is her father, which he denies. He did, however, know her mother, and he agrees that he will take Addie to her aunt's house. On his way out of town, he extorts two hundred dollars from the brother of the man whose drunk driving was responsible for Addie's mother's death. Addie overhears this and refuses to separate from Moze until he gives her the money, most of which he's already spent. It turns out that Moze is a low-level conman, and Addie quickly demonstrates a flair for it--better than Moze, in fact. They're making her money back faster than he'd expected--until one night, at a carnival, he meets up with Miss Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn). Moze rapidly spends money on her, and of course, they aren't up to their usual tricks and so aren't getting any more in. Addie decides she needs to get rid of Trixie, and pairs up with Trixie's maid, Imogene (P. J. Johnson), to do it.

To be perfectly honest, the only reason I can see Addie's wanting to stay with Moze is for the same reason that I assume she really loved her father at the time. Sometimes, we are blind when it comes to our parents and forgive things that shouldn't be forgiven. Addie is desperately in need of someone to love her, someone to belong to, and she latches onto Moze for it. Possibly, her aunt (Rose-Mary Rumbley) would be better; we can never really be sure. However, her aunt was distant, never visiting her sister and niece. Addie can convince herself that Moze loved her mother, and that he must be her father. Don't they have the same jaw? Maybe he is; maybe he isn't. But Addie needs him to be, so she's willing to overlook every flaw--and drive off Trixie. She's a better judge of human nature than he is, but she still can't see him well enough to see what's wrong with him. She doesn't want to, because she wants him to be the father she needs.

Oh, part of this may be that I just don't like Ryan O'Neal. Of the four people who get any considerable amount of screen time in this film, he's the least talented. It was Tatum's first movie, and she acted rings around him. However, remember that he's perfectly content to scam people the same regardless of whether they're rich or poor. She gives the poor woman the inscribed Bible and is smart enough to charge the rich one considerably more than anyone else they encounter--and the rich woman pays it without a second thought. It isn't just that Moze is a crook. It's that he's short-sighted. He's petty. He doesn't only think of himself, but that's because he doesn't seem to think at all. He's trying to impress Trixie, but why? (Leaving aside that she's Madeline Kahn and therefore automatically too good for him.) when he meets her, she's a stripper at a carnival. He seems to have the impression that she's high class, because she has a high school diploma, but how long will she stay when he's broke?

For some reason, this approximate era was full of rose-coloured portrayal of the Great Depression. (For all this was actually filmed in B&W.) Yes, all right, these two are supposed to fit in the category of "cheeky rogues" who have been popular in fiction going back quite a long time. Centuries at least. However, we don't ever get a clear image of poverty from this movie. Several characters throughout the story must be in very bad shape financially, but we ignore that. It takes a very small amount of money to convince Imogene to betray Trixie, and fair enough. She doesn't like Trixie anyway and isn't getting paid. But the money Moze cheats out of people will sometimes mean that they won't have enough to eat that month, and the movie never lets us see that anyone is ever really suffering. Except for the one family wherein Addie, out of the goodness of her heart, refuses to con them. That isn't enough for me, and I'm surprised it is for the movie's many fans.